Privacy and the database state in the news

Privacy and the database state in the news

Your e-reader is Watching You

The Mail Online reports that e-reader devices can track users and report back to e-book stores information such which books you are reading, the amount of time spent on a particular passage and what time you put the e-reader device down to go to sleep.

Michael Tamblyn, of Kobo, which supplies e-readers to WHSmith, John Lewis and Tesco, said it collects information from users to recommend new books and boost sales. Amazon’s Kindle also collects similar information.

‘That these products feel the need to monitor more than just what we read, but to actively store data on what page we might linger on or more worryingly what time of day or night we choose to read seems disproportionately intrusive on what is to most of us a moment of personal quiet time.’